Category Archives: One Bread, One Body

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It is a mere forty days. Jesus ventured in the desert for the same number of days and nights. There, Jesus prayed, meditated and fasted, all in order to prepare Himself for the sacrifice He was to make of Himself, for us.

The desert is a stark, desolate environment. There is life in the desert…but it is hidden, minimal and scarce. This is where Jesus chose to spend time, alone, to commune with God the Creator.

This Lent, our worship space will be plain, bare and simple. The plants have been removed as have most of the images of saints and holy women and men. The intent is to create an environment that, like the desert, is simple.

The small baptismal font is dry and filled with sand and iron spikes instead of blessed water

Let us journey together: To better prepare ourselves for the great Paschal Feast of Easter, let us journey together, in prayer, in silence, in worship and in the faith that Christ Jesus is with us, accompanying us on our venture through Lent.

To reiterate something I wrote last week: ‘no one really likes having to attend a meeting.’ Then again, last Sunday’s St. Nicholas Annual All-Parish Meeting was not your “run-of-the-mill” meeting. Absolutely not. What we had was one amazing and uplifting gathering. When all was said and done and the closing prayer was said, truthfully, I hated to see everyone leave. There is a comfort, a sense of belonging when we’re gathered together; as a community, as a family of believers. What a joy it is for me to have this divine opportunity to serve such a church and such a wonderful community.

So much was accomplished in a relatively short period of time. We elected our new members to the Bishop’s Committee. Two delegates and two alternates to the 2015 Diocesan Convention have been elected. We discussed the updates to our church and what is yet to come. Finances were talked about, openly and with full transparency. We talked about where we want our church to be, what we envision for our house of worship and our dreams of what could well come to be. There was a lengthy conversation about our desire to become a “parish,” to drop the term “mission” from our title. There are both pros and cons to this move. However, there seems to be a rather strong and healthy head of steam for us to pursue this very matter. We will move carefully, judiciously and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

As members were sharing their thoughts and concerns, I took some liberty and looked out at the many faces that filled the Hall. Certainly, I was paying attention to what was being said, be assured of that. However, looking out at this, my parish family, I felt such an overwhelming sense of pride, of happiness and a love that is so rare and special.

My friends, we did ourselves proud. We accomplished much, we focused our attention to the work that was before us, we ate our fill and we left the Hall in probably better condition than when we started. Truly in good ol’ St. Nicholas style and fashion, we did it right and we did it our way!